Can you gather your vital breath and yet be tender like a newborn baby?
Interpretation
Embracing strength and gentleness can coexist in a balanced life.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the importance of integrating both strength and tenderness within ourselves. It suggests that true wisdom lies in the ability to harness one's vital energy, while simultaneously embodying the softness and purity of a newborn, indicating that strength does not have to be aggressive and gentleness does not compromise power.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development, one might say, 'As Laozi reminds us, we can gather our vital breath and still remain tender like a newborn, illustrating the balance we must cultivate.'
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
The backslider likes the preaching that wouldn't hit the side of a house, while the real disciple is delighted when the truth brings him to his knees.
This is how it is with insomnia. Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy of a copy. The insomnia distance of everything, you can't touch anything and nothing can touch you.
All paths lead nowhere, so it is important to choose a path that has heart.
We tend to disempower ourselves. We tend to believe that we donβt matter. And in the act of taking that idea to ourselves we give everything away to somebody else, to something else.
Saddest of all are the women who were brought up to believe that self-sacrifice is the highest female virtue. They made the sacrifice, often willingly, and they are still waiting for the blessing.
It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions.
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